This study examined instructional leadership in eight diverse secondary schools in four urban, suburban, and small-city school districts in one western state. The aim was to gain access to a set of schools that provided both variety in instructional leadership and diversity in school size, organization, grade level, faculty and student characteristics, and circumstances. Case studies were conducted in five schools during the first year, and a survey of expectations and practices--developed from findings of the case studies--was distributed to administrators, department heads, and teachers in these five and three other schools during the second year. This report begins with an extensive summary of the methodology, findings, and implications of the study as a whole. This is followed by chapters in which the following topics are discussed in depth: (1) theory and action (leadership and the character of schools); (2) views of instructional leadership (a review of the literature); (3) control, freedom, and opportunity (the school as an informal organization); (4) findings on instructional leadership from the five case studies; (5) observing and being observed at work (findings from the survey); and (6) leadership by teachers. Results of the survey are tabulated, and six pages of references are included. (TE)